The BBC is to launch a "reality radio" show in a nationwide hunt to find the next opera sensation.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, one of the world's leading sopranos, will head a panel of judges scouring the country for new opera stars, the best of whom will showcase their talents on BBC Radio 2.

The Radio 2 Kiri Prize will be announced this week as part of the BBC's attempt to open opera up to a wider audience.

The winner will perform with Dame Kiri at the BBC's Proms in the Park in September, launching their opera career in front of an audience of thousands.

Dame Kiri, who will also offer the winner a three-week course at the Solti Te Kanawa Academia opera school in Italy, said: "I have a passion for finding new opera talent, so I'm thrilled to be involved in such an exciting project."

Aspiring opera stars will be invited to send a recording of themselves singing an opera aria into Radio 2.

Regional auditions will take place in March in Cardiff, Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and London, with the best contestants who make it through the auditions attending a series of 10 masterclasses with Dame Kiri.

Fifteen semi-finalists will perform this summer on a series of special episodes of Friday Night is Music Night, Radio 2's flagship live music programme, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The best five singers chosen by the judges, who will also include Robin Stapleton, the conductor, will then go through to the final, which will be broadcast on Radio 2 on Sept 3.

A spokesman for Radio 2, said: "The judges will be looking at several criteria, but foremost among them will be technical ability, artistic interpretation, intonation, phrasing and dramatic performance.

"The initiative is looking for serious vocal potential in a very focused area of the music world. We hope to discover a unique talent who will go on to have a career in the world's opera houses for many years to come."

The competition will be open to amateur opera singers, opera students and members of company choruses aged 20 and above.

The launch of The Radio 2 Kiri Prize comes as leading opera singers have heavily criticised ITV 1's latest reality television show, Popstar to Operastar, for "cheapening" opera.

The show features celebrities including Alex James, a guitarist with the band Blur, Danny Jones from the boy band McFly and Kym Marsh, the Coronation Street actress, attempting to sing opera to a judging panel including Katherine Jenkins, the classical singer, and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, the television presenter.

Last week, Ian Storey, a leading tenor, said of the show: "My colleagues are angry and incredulous about Popstar to Operastar. A number of singers feel insulted.

"Alex James' ... onstage rock antics ridiculed opera as an art and cheapened the work that serious opera performers put in to become a performer."

The soprano Rebecca Evans was equally scathing: "It takes years of hard graft and dedication to become an opera singer," she said. "The series will give the wrong impression."

The Radio 2 Kiri Prize is part of A Passion for Opera, a year-long programme of expanded opera coverage on the BBC, which will include documentaries and performances across BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Radio 3.

Programmes will include BBC Two's Stephen Fry on Wagner – Tainted Love in which the broadcaster will explore his passion for the controversial composer and Rick Stein – Food of the Italian Opera on BBC Four where the celebrity chef will trace the role food played in the creation of Italian opera.

Jan Younghusband, the BBC's commissioning editor for music and events, said: "Opera is a serious art form, but it is also a great piece of entertainment and with the broad range of programmes the BBC will be delivering, I hope it will show that opera is great fun and bring it to a wider audience.

"Opera can communicate in a much broader way when you take it out on to the streets, so I hope that by showing how accessible it is, more people will come to it."